Hello!

Sorry it has been a few days since the last update. The end of orientation week was very busy! Lets see; where to begin?

I'll show a lot of what's been going on with pictures I've taken. It's easier that way. (And more fun!) Here are most of the really great highlights.

Here at Koinonia there are multiple pecan orchards. There are MANY processes that are involved in the harvesting of the nuts but one involves a large machine that grabs onto the tree and shakes the pecans loose. I got to operate this machine! I just happened to be sharing lunch with Bud and Norris, the two gentlemen who were doing maintenance on the machine when they asked if I would like to shake one of the trees. Of course I accepted the offer! It resulted in a lot of laughter and tons of pecans falling to the ground!

Another project I got to be apart of was the building of a house for the Fuller Center. This organization builds houses for low income families and was started by Millard and Linda Fuller. They were a couple who were apart of Koinonia in 1967. Koinonia teaches that every individual has their own journey and welcomes people to discover that direction while on the farm. Millard and Linda found there passion during their time spent at Koinonia and went on to accomplish incredible things. Millard was actually the individual who founded Habitat for Humanity in the mid-1970's. Due to differences of opinion between Millard and the current Board of Directors Millard separated himself from Habitat and started the Fuller Center. Explore this link for more information on the Fuller Center: http://www.fullercenter.org/

This past Wednesday was the one-year anniversary of Millards death. To pay respect, there was a day open to anyone who cared to honor Millard at the most recent building site of the Fuller Center.

(This is the duplex being built by the Fuller Center where we gathered for Millard.)

(This is Linda Fuller speaking on behalf of Millard, and David Snell - the new President of the Fuller Center now that Millard has passed away.)

(This is Nashua and Little Bear, his loyal companion. Little Bear travels around the farm all day with Nash. )

This past Friday the farm members held a Welcome Retreat for the interns. This included a special spiritual time in the morning, breakfast and games at Amanda's house, a wonderfully prepared lunch, a talent show, intern sharing time, and then a poetry reading. Besides the rain (which forced us to cancel the bonfire) the day was great.

(view outside Sunny Acres - where Amanda's house is)

(cooking breakfast and playing card games)

(the special lunch prepared for the special day)

Last but not least I'll mention that I got to learn how to lay tile a few days ago! It was pretty tough towards the end but a great learning experience. Phil is apart of the maintenance team, is from New York, and has a ton of experience laying floors. I really learned a lot.

(Phil)

(This is Rob; the guy who owns the house)

(According to Phil i helped him lay 1/3 of the room!)

Today was the first official day of work. I took a ton of great pictures which will probably be updated tomorrow.

Hope this helps catch you up.

Also hope all is well with everyone. Would love to hear how you're doing. Just leave a comment here on the blog. Thanks for keeping up with me.

Peace.